To celebrate its 15th anniversary, The Young Scientists Club will add new kits inspired by the importance of science, technology, engineering, and math (S.T.E.M.) education. The company will show off the new kits, which feature The Magic School Bus and Clifford the Big Red Dog, at February’s American International Toy Fair.

The Magic School Bus Math Explosion features a volcano that kids can explode by getting their math facts correct, while The Magic School Bus Engineering Lab lets kids build a solar oven, design a car, construct a bridge, create solar energy, and more. Clifford Animal Science includes a colorful lab tray, measuring cup, and magnifying glass for kids to perform experiments in animal science. Finally, Clifford Food Science guides young scientists through tasty experiments with catchy titles, such as rainbow ice and ice cream in a bag.

Not all science toys are created equal. Today’s kids live in a world oozing with technology, discovery, gizmos, and gadgets—and toy store shelves reflect this environment. Classics, such as volcano kits and fossil excavation sets, will always retain their charm and their ability to excite and inspire kids. However, more high-tech items, such as solar-powered robots and hovercrafts, are the toys of today—and tomorrow.

There is immeasurable value in science toys. Kids gain knowledge and understanding of the world around them by immersing themselves in a hands-on activity that lets them comprehend how things work, where things come from, or how to use one thing to power another. Providing kids with fun and exciting alternatives to mind-numbing video games or TV shows is a great way for parents and caregivers to encourage learning and positive play, even outside of school hours.

Hovercrafts, once a thing of sci-fi and fantasy, are now a reality. Thames & Kosmos offers kids the opportunity to build their own working hovercraft with the Air Stream Machines kit. The kit teaches kids about air mass and air pressure by letting them experiment with propellers, impellers, blower motors, and fans. Kids can even build a batting machine that suspends a ball on top of the stream of air. [Read more...]

Clifford The Big Red Dog is such a classic, lovable cartoon character, so it is fitting that Scholastic has a Clifford-themed science kit about something as spectacular as rainbows. Who doesn’t love to look to the sky and see an array of colors that seem to have magically appeared there after a rainy day? I know I sure do—almost as much as I loved Clifford growing up. Clifford The Big Red Dog Rainbow Science, part of The Young Scientists Club, is for ages 3 and up and is an experiment kit that teaches kids the science behind rainbows, while encouraging them to take an active role in their learning. Included in the kit is an informative manual advising close adult supervision for all experiments, and all the materials: a pipette, three test tubes, a funnel, test tube holders, wells, six pieces of chromatography paper, crayons, rainbow glasses, a measuring cup, a pencil, a mirror, and a white circular cardboard. Common household materials are needed for the experiments as well. The bottom of every experiment page provides explanation for the outcome and there are illustrations outlining each step to every experiment, which I found to be very helpful once I was actually experimenting.

The first two experiments are dubbed “milk rainbow” and “rainbow star.” Both call for milk to be poured into the provided plastic bowl and for kids to add a drop of yellow, red, and blue food coloring (which must be provided from home). The child is than instructed to add one drop of liquid dish soap to the middle of the bowl. The point of these experiments is to show kids the liquid soap breaking the surface tensions of the milk, causing the color droplets to mix together and in with the milk. The next few pages of the manual feature experiments that teach kids how to use and clean the pipette properly, be creative and come up with their own secondary colors from primary colors, and decorate the chromatography paper provided from the kit. The next three experiments use vegetable oil, which must also be provided from home. The purpose of the “colored bubbles in oil,” “rainbow color explosions,” and “colored bubbles in a tube” experiments are to show kids that since oil and water don’t like to mix, the watered food color will not dissolve into the oil, causing bubbles to form and even explode when the oil and water are mixed in one of the test tubes. [Read more...]

LeapFrog Enterprises, Inc., has announced a new program to allow external developers to create interactive games and apps for its learning platforms. This new program will start with the release of exclusive interactive games from Scholastic, the global children’s publishing, education, and media company. Clifford’s Rhyme Race and The Magic School Bus Dino Shuffle were developed and produced by Scholastic solely for LeapFrog and are now available for purchase in the “Games” section of the LeapFrog App Center for the kids’ learning tablets, LeapPad1 andLeapPad2, and learning video game systems, Leapster Explorer and LeapsterGS. [Read more...]

A big red dog will be teaching science tricks to youngsters next year. Through a new licensing agreement, The Young Scientists Club has enlisted a beloved literary character, Clifford The Big Red Dog, to guide kids to discover bubbles, rainbows, and experiments by the kitchen sink in three new kits. [Read more...]

2012-2013 School Year Celebration Includes New Publishing, Apps, Live Classroom Event, Birthday Card Campaign, National Sweepstakes, Broadcast Event, New Products, and Promotional Partners

Scholastic Media, a division of Scholastic Inc., the global children’s publishing, education and media company, announced that it will kick off the 50th anniversary celebration of Clifford the Big Red Dog on September 24th– in conjunction with the publication of Norman Bridwell’s Clifford Collection and the “Biggest Birthday Party Ever” at Scholastic headquarters in New York City, a live event that will be streamed to classrooms nationwide.

The campaign will span the school year and include the launch of new publishing, a birthday card campaign, and a national sweepstakes leading up to Clifford’s official birthday on February 14. Since the first Clifford book was published in 1963, the property has expanded to include 126 million books in print and an Emmy Award-winning television series, currently in its twelfth consecutive season on PBS Kids in the U.S.; the show has been sold to 30 countries in 12 languages worldwide.

Highlights of the Clifford 50th Anniversary year include:

“Biggest Birthday Party Ever” Kick Off Event/Live Classroom WebcastOn September 24 at 10:00 a.m., Scholastic will host Clifford’s Biggest Birthday Party Ever—a live celebration at Scholastic’s New York City headquarters and webcast to classrooms nationwide. Hundreds of children will gather to sing Happy Birthday to Clifford, and Norman Bridwell will be on hand for a big reveal on the façade of the company’s SoHo building.

The collection will hit shelves this September at specialty toy and gift stores in the U.S. and Canada.

This post was originally written by Sierra McCleary-Harris and published by ToyBook.com. For more news, visit www.toybook.com, follow The Toy Book on Twitter, and like The Toy Book on Facebook. The Toy Book is a bimonthly trade magazine covering the toy industry, published by Adventure Publishing Group.

“Clifford The Big Red Dog Live! A BIG Family Musical” kicked off earlier this month in Vermont and Connecticut. The 50-city live touring show includes both school and public performances. The new musical adventure teaches audience members that “it only takes a little to be big.” Through laughter, songs, and dancing, the characters and audience learn about Clifford’s Big Ideas (share, play fair, have respect, work together, be responsible, be truthful, be kind, help others, believe in yourself, and be a good friend) from the PBS Kids series Clifford the Big Red Dog. The production is directed by Mark Fleischer and produced by Mills Entertainment, in cooperation with Scholastic Media. The Brad Simon Organization serves as the exclusive booking agency for the production.

This post was originally written by Elizabeth A. Reid and published by ToyBook.com. For more news, visit www.toybook.com, follow The Toy Bookon Twitter, and like The Toy Book on Facebook. The Toy Book is a bimonthly trade magazine covering the toy industry, published by Adventure Publishing Group.

New Products

Marvel’s Ant-Man is still going strong in theaters, and so is Disney Consumer Products’ (DCP) and Marvel‘s Ant-Man product collection. The lineup includes costumes, construction sets, action figures, and more from licensees such as Hasbro, LEGO, Funko, Hot Wheels, Rubie’s Costume Co., and Uncle Milton.

Skechers USA Inc. has partnered with Jakks Pacific Inc. to launch a new line of dolls based on Skechers’ popular Twinkle Toes character. The initial launch includes four unique dolls that stand 6.5 inches in height, and are dressed in colorful, fashion-forward outfits and light-up Skechers Twinkle Toes shoes.

LeapFrog Enterprises Inc. will release three new preschool toys—the Number Lovin’ Oven and Scout’s Build & Discover Tool Set, which offer pretend play experiences that teach math and measurement, respectively—and the Word Whammer, a phonics game that prepares children for kindergarten in an active way.

Now available from VTech, Flipsies combine traditional role play with collectible dolls and accessories, as well as VTech’s proprietary MagicPoint interactive technology. The line offers a variety of ways to play and has eight introductory themes that encourage girls to be anything they want to be, whether it’s a doctor, a marine biologist, a teacher, [...]

Merchantwise, ITV Studios Global Entertainment’s appointed licensing agency in Australia, has announced strong toy and DVD sales, as well as a host of new licensing and retail partners, for the TV series Thunderbirds Are Go in Australia.